The Houston Chronicle has published a very weak editorial response to the profoundly disturbing developments in the Todd Willingham case showing that Texas executed an innocent person. The Houston Chronicle should be addressing the death penalty itself and endorsing a halt to executions, not just saying that the “commission’s next step should be formulating recommendations to upgrade and standardize forensic investigations and testing to prevent future miscarriages of justice.”
The question is what does the Chronicle think should be Texas’ next step in its death penalty policy.
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for starting a house fire in Corsicana 13 years earlier that killed his three young daughters. From the time of his arrest until a lethal injection ended his life on a prison gurney in Huntsville, Willingham maintained his innocence, refusing to enter a guilty plea at trial in exchange for a life sentence.
At the time of his state-inflicted death, it appeared Willingham’s fate was to be remembered as a monster who burned his children alive for no conceivable motive. With the release of a report by renowned arson expert Craig Beyler, commissioned by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, history may hold him in a very different light: the first person executed since capital punishment resumed in the United States in 1974 who was posthumously proven innocent.
Beyler’s report doesn’t flatly say that, but it demolishes the findings by arson investigators that the fire was deliberately set. According to Beyler, they had “poor understanding of fire science” and misread burn patterns.
Willingham’s case is explored at length by writer David Grann in the current New Yorker magazine in a piece entitled “Trial by Fire.” It has also been a focus of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group that specializes in investigating wrongful convictions.
Innocence Project co-director and attorney Barry Scheck says the Willingham story “is a powerful case for those who have the stomach to look at it that an innocent man in Texas went to his death. This was not arson, much less an arson-murder case.”
A jury convicted the then-24-year-old unemployed auto mechanic largely on the basis of testimony by arson investigator Manuel Vasquez and Douglas Fogg that the fire bore unmistakable signs it had been deliberately set using accelerants. Willingham claimed he was at home asleep when the fire started and was awakened by the screams of his daughter Amber. By Willingham’s account, he unsuccessfully tried to rescue the children but was driven from the building by heat and flames. He suggested that a space heater in the children’s bedroom might have sparked the blaze. After a two-day trial, the jury quickly found him guilty, and he was sentenced to death.
Shortly before his execution, a well-known arson investigator, Gerald Hurst, examined the evidence that led to Willingham’s conviction and came to the conclusion that the original finding of arson was wrong. All of the indications cited as proof of a deliberate fire could have been caused by a so-called flashover, when intense heat triggers flame bursts that can mimic arson.
Hurst’s report was submitted as part of last-minute appeals to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry to stay Willingham’s execution. The appeals were denied.
As Scheck told the New Yorker, “the only reasonable conclusion is that the governor’s office and the Board of Pardons and Paroles ignored scientific evidence.”
Whether or not it officially acknowledges that Willingham was wrongfully executed, the members of the Forensic Science Commission deserve thanks for their willingness to launch a thorough and impartial investigation. Since there are no do-overs where capital punishment is involved, the commission’s next step should be formulating recommendations to upgrade and standardize forensic investigations and testing to prevent future miscarriages of justice.
This week in New Yorker magazine, David Grann writes about a possible case of wrongful execution.
Grann will be answering questions in a live chat on Wednesday, September 2nd, at 3 P.M. E.T.
Submit advance questions for Grann, sign up for an e-mail reminder below, and come back Wednesday to join the discussion.
The Dallas Morning News’ Texas Death Penalty blog has a guest column today by Nina Morrison, a Staff Attorney at the Innocence Project. She rebuts the arguments made last week by Judge John Jackson, who was one of the prosecutors for Navarro County in the Cameron Todd Willingham case.
Jackson embarrassed himself last week in a column he wrote in the Corsicana Daily News claiming “the trial testimony you reported in 1991 contains overwhelming evidence of guilt completely independent of the undeniably flawed forensic report”. He wrote his article in response to the state-funded report by Dr Craig Beyler that said “a finding of arson could not be sustained” under scientific analysis. The 16,000 word New Yorker article, which came out after Jackson’s article, also contains information that counters Jackson’s column, so be sure to read the New Yorker article.
Here is what Nina Morrison says about Jackson:
The truth is that all of the evidence that Jackson and his colleagues used to convict Willingham has been disproven. In the five years since Willingham was executed, several investigations – including an exhaustive report in the New Yorker this week – deconstruct all of the evidence and show that he was innocent.
Jackson himself now admits that the forensic case supporting the arson theory is “undeniably flawed” but he clings to the idea that Willingham was guilty, focusing on seven other points and shading each of them to conceal the truth:
1. Jackson claims Willingham beat his wife when she was pregnant in an attempt to end her pregnancies. In fact, Willingham’s wife has denied this and also told investigators he would never hurt his children.
2. Jackson claims Willingham’s burns were so minor that they must have been self- inflicted to fake evidence of trying to save his family. In fact, scientific experts have conducted experiments with identical fires and Willingham’s burns are normal for this type of fire.3. Jackson claims medical tests show Willingham didn’t inhale smoke and thus didn’t try to rescue his family. In fact, Willingham tried desperately to go back into the house but firefighters physically restrained him.
4. Jackson claims Willingham refused to take a polygraph examination. This is true, but it is by no means evidence of guilt. Defense attorneys routinely advise their clients not to take polygraphs because they have proven unreliable (which is why they are not admissible in court).
5. Jackson likens Willingham to “violent sociopaths.” In fact, a prosecution expert who testified that Willingham was a “sociopath” was expelled from his professional association just three years later for unethical behavior, including making diagnoses without examining people. Willingham’s former probation officer and a judge both directly refute any notion that he was a sociopath.
6. Jackson claims Willingham meant to kill only his twins, citing the origin of the fire in their room and a witness who supposedly heard him whisper to his older daughter’s body that she wasn’t supposed to die. In fact, even the experts at Willingham’s trial admitted that they could not detect chemicals showing arson in the twins’ room. A grieving father telling his dead daughter that she wasn’t supposed to die is not evidence of guilt.
7. Jackson claims that a refrigerator in the house was pushed against a door, implying that Willingham moved it to trap the children inside. In fact, the refrigerator was covering a back door because there were two refrigerators in the small kitchen. The police detective and the fire chief who handled the case both now say that the refrigerator’s location does not support the theory that the fire was arson.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 31, 2009
CONTACT: Scott Cobb, 512-552-4743 www.texasmoratorium.org
New Yorker Article Casts Doubt on All Evidence that Led to Execution of Todd Willingham
Governor Perry Should Urge Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Judges and DAs to Suspend Executions
The New Yorker today published a 16,000 word report by David Grann that examines all the evidence used against Todd Willingham that led to his execution and finds that none of it was valid. There is no doubt now that Texas executed an innocent person. The State of Texas should halt executions in light of the New Yorker report and last week’s news that the investigator hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission has concluded that the fire in the Willingham case was accidental and not arson. Willingham was executed for arson/murder in 2004. In fact, there was no arson, so there was no crime. Texas executed an innocent person.
“This is the greatest crisis in the history of capital punishment in Texas. Our state has lost the moral authority to continue conducting executions after having executed an innocent person. Texas Moratorium Network calls on Governor Perry to urge the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend stays for all ten people who currently have scheduled execution dates. Perry should also urge all District Attorneys and judges in Texas to stop setting new execution dates and to withdraw all pending execution dates. Governor Perry does not have the authority to unilaterally impose a moratorium, but he can act to create a consensus among judges, district attorneys and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to stop executions. The Texas system of carrying out executions must be suspended and the Governor should appoint a balanced commission to examine all aspects of the Texas death penalty system to determine what went wrong in the Willingham case and whether it is possible to prevent any more executions of innocent people. A moratorium on executions is the only way to guarantee that another innocent person is not executed”, said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.
“Governor Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles were provided a report written by fire expert Gerald Hurst before Willingham’s execution that cast considerable doubt on the conclusion that the fire was arson. They ignored Hurst’s report. Now, they have a responsibility to take action to ensure that Texas does not execute another innocent person”, said Cobb.
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Accompanied by 300 supporters standing outside the gates of the Texas Governor’s Mansion, family members (pictured) of Cameron Todd Willingham delivered a letter to Gov Perry on October 28, 2006 asking him to stop executions and investigate the case of their step son/uncle to determine if he was wrongfully executed. The Willingham’s were in Austin for the 7th Annual March to Stop Executions. The 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty is October 24, 2009 at the Texas Capitol in Austin.
Eugenia Willingham slipped the letter, along with a copy of an article from the Chicago Tribune that concluded that her stepson was probably innocent, through the bars of the front gate of the mansion and left it lying on the walkway leading to the front door of the mansion. A DPS trooper on duty refused to take the letter, so Eugenia left it on the walkway. According to a Public Information Request sent to Perry by TMN, we know that his staff later retrieved the letter and delivered it to Perry’s office, however he never responded to Willingham’s family.
Below is a copy of the letter
The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
Austin, Texas
October 28, 2006
Dear Governor Perry,
We are the family of Cameron Todd Willingham. Our names are Eugenia Willingham, Trina Willingham Quinton and Joshua Easley. Todd was an innocent person executed by Texas on February 17, 2004. We have come to Austin today from Ardmore, Oklahoma to stand outside the Texas Governor’s Mansion and attempt to deliver this letter to you in person, because we want to make sure that you know about Todd’s innocence and to urge you to stop executions in Texas and determine why innocent people are being executed in Texas.
Todd was not the only innocent person who has been executed in Texas. There have been reports in the media that Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna were also innocent people who were executed in Texas. It is too late to save Todd’s life or the lives of Ruben Cantu or Carlos De Luna, but it is not too late to save other innocent people from being executed. We are here today to urge you to be the leader that Texas needs in order to make sure that Texas never executes another innocent person. There is a crisis in Texas regarding the death penalty and we ask you to address the crisis. Because the public can no longer be certain that Texas is not executing innocent people, we urge you to stop all executions.
Strapped to a gurney in Texas’ death chamber, just moments from his execution for setting a fire that killed his three daughters, our son/uncle, Todd Willingham, declared his innocence one last time, saying “I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do.” Todd is now dead and can no longer speak for himself, so we have come to Austin to speak for him.
Before Todd’s execution, you were given a report from a prominent fire scientist questioning the conviction, but you did not stop the execution. The author of the report, Gerald Hurst, has said, “There’s nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire. It was just a fire.”
Another report issued in 2006 by a panel of national arson experts brought together by the Innocence Project concluded that the fire that killed Todd’s three daughters was an accident. The report says that Todd’s case is very similar to the case of Ernest Willis, who was convicted of arson murder and sentenced to death in 1987. Willis served 17 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2004 – the same year Todd was executed. The report says that neither of the fires which Todd and Ernest Willis were convicted of setting were arson. The report notes that the evidence and forensic analysis in the Willingham and Willis cases “were the same,” and that “each and every one” of the forensic interpretations that state experts made in both men’s trials have been proven scientifically invalid. In other words, Todd was executed based on “junk science”.
Please look into our son/uncle’s case and ask the District Attorney in Corsicana to reopen the investigation into the crime for which my brother was wrongfully executed. You should also establish an Innocence Commission in the next session of the Texas Legislature that could investigate my brother’s case, as well as other cases of possible wrongful executions, such as Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna.
Please ensure that no other family suffers the tragedy of seeing one of their loved ones wrongfully executed. Please enact a moratorium on executions and create a special blue ribbon commission to study the administration of the death penalty in Texas. Texas also needs a statewide Office of Public Defenders for Capital Cases. Such an office will go a long way towards preventing innocent people from being executed. A moratorium will ensure that no other innocent people are executed while the system is being studied and reforms implemented.
We look forward to hearing from you and we pledge to work with you to ensure that executions of innocent people are stopped.
Yours sincerely,
Eugenia Willingham
Stepmother of Cameron Todd Willingham who raised him from the age of 13 months
Trina Willingham Quinton
Niece of Cameron Todd Willingham
Joshua Easley
Nephew of Cameron Todd Willingham
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